The fifth-ranked Emory University baseball team travels to Georgia Gwinnett College to face the #1 NAIA Grizzles on Friday night. The Eagles saw their seven game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday, falling to crosstown foe Oglethorpe University, 5-1. It was just the third loss in the previous 17 contests for Emory and the team will carry a 27-8 record into Friday night's matchup.
Coverage
Georgia Gwinnett athletics will have live stats and video available for the game which will begin at 6:00 PM. Fans not making the trip to GGC can still follow along with the action by using these links:
Video stream: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ggc/.
#5/5 Emory University Eagles (27-8)
The Eagles have upped their team batting average to .285 for the season after batting an even .300 over the previous eight contests, going 7-1 during the stretch. Senior Chris Slivka has seen his average rise to .342 on the year as he currently is hitting a scorching .476 over the last eight games with a team-leading 10 runs, three home runs and 11 RBI. Senior Dylan Eisner is hitting .385 over the same portion of games and is now batting .367 for the year. Junior Philip Maldari has started to heat up at the plate as well as he is hitting at a .344 clip since the loss to LaGrange on March 26th. Maldari is currently in the midst a team-high six-game hitting streak, one shy for the longest by an Eagle this season, and he has driven in eight runs during the streak.
Emory's pitching has continued to impress this season as the Eagles rank second in all of Division III with a 2.27 earned-run average. Junior Hans Hansen is tied for second in the country with his seven victories while the trio of Hansen, junior Jackson Weeg and freshman Billy Dimlow has combined for a 19-2 record and a 1.89 ERA in 181 innings at the top of the pitching staff. At the backend of the bullpen, junior closer Kyle Monk is tied for the nation's lead with 11 saves and has pitched to a terrific 1.56 ERA in 22 relief appearances. Monk's next save will set the program record for most saves in a single season and 30 in his career, making him the sixth pitcher in Division III history to reach that mark.
#1 Georgia Gwinnett College Grizzles (42-4)
The Grizzles enter Friday evening's tilt on a two-game losing skid, falling to NAIA #4 Faulker 11-3 and NAIA #8 Auburn-Montgomery 2-1 on Wednesday night. For the season, GGC still carries an impressive 42-4 overall record and are 27-2 at home.
At the plate, Georgia Gwinnett is led by Zac Rinehart as the Snellville native carries a .454 batting average, collecting 59 hits, 45 RBI, seven home runs, 14 doubles and two triples. Currently, Rinehart's .454 batting average places him sixth in the NAIA while his slugging percentage (.754) puts him 12th. Rinehart is one of three Grizzle regulars hitting over .400 as Trey Haygood comes into play at a .425 clip and Josh Merrigan is hitting .413 on the year. Merrigan is tied with Rinehart for the team lead with 14 doubles and leads GGC with four triples to go along with 44 runs driven in.
The Grizzly pitching staff has been a strength of the team this season as it holds a combined 3.39 ERA. The trio of Nikolay Uherek (2.15), Davis Adkins (2.03), and Will Solomon (2.66) combine for a 2.26 ERA with a collective record of 25-2 with seven saves and has totaled 203 strikeouts in 170.1 innings pitched. The GGC pitching staff leads the NAIA in strikeouts, with 405 (8.80 per game) through 46 games.
The Grizzles are coached by fourth-year head coach Brad Stromdahl who has amassed a career record of 175-56 since taking over the program at its inception before the 2013 season.
All-Time Series
Emory and Georgia Gwinnett have faced each other just three times previously with the Grizzlies winning two out of the three. The last time these teams squared off in April of 2014, GGC earned a 5-2 victory at Chappell Park.